You can never bet against wazza. Defends the Glazers, won't admit Cleverley is trash, and actually said and this is a direct quote, "Nani can be our Robben" in the summer of 2014.

Impossible to predict what he's going to say sometimes.

8/25/2014 12:56:26 PM

Quote :

"At least we won't hear Man U fans cry about Citeh buying the league anymore"

I wouldn't mind if you bought that Corvette with your own money, you only get ridiculed if you have a sugar daddy buy it for you.

[Edited on August 25, 2014 at 1:01 PM. Reason : ]

8/25/2014 1:01:10 PM

He's the worst. We are all assholes but he is utterly incapable of accepting a criticism of United.

To be fair, though, seeing Di Maria added to a squad that walked the league and has a tactical genius at the helm has me scared.

8/25/2014 1:01:10 PM

Fuck. Moreno was having a decent debut too until that last 2-3 minutes.

[Edited on August 25, 2014 at 3:45 PM. Reason : Glen Johnson is 100% garbage ]

8/25/2014 3:43:19 PM

Gerrard is having a shocker from the radio broadcast. As bad as they are saying?

8/25/2014 3:52:29 PM

I didn't think he was that bad. He started off rough but got better as the half went on. He's dropping really deep, sometimes almost in line with Skrtel/Lovren. City honestly hadn't really threatened at all until the goal.

8/25/2014 3:59:25 PM

Quote :

"Glen Johnson is 100% garbage"

8/25/2014 4:00:13 PM

I'd say that was a good first touch for Aguero.

8/25/2014 4:28:01 PM

8/25/2014 4:28:56 PM

8/25/2014 4:28:59 PM

Quote :

"Jovetic will ball out for City this year tho. Damn I wish he was at Liverpool."

bet aimorris wishes this now more than ever

8/25/2014 7:34:06 PM

Giroud out ten weeks. He isn't good but he's by far the best Arsenal has to lead the line. Fuck me if we go after Welbeck.

** can we officially say any philosophy bullshit with United and an academy or LVG and kids is gone. In today's game you don't compete with the oil teams or Spanish giants consistently without spending massively. Period.

[Edited on August 26, 2014 at 7:27 AM. Reason : X]

8/26/2014 7:19:53 AM

I don't see Liverpool repeating their form from last year.

No matter what club it is, integrating 9 new players into a squad over one window is ridiculously hard. Some of them haven't had a bit of training camp with their new teammates either. There is no shortcut for that "understanding" that players develop between each other that only comes with spending a ton of time training and playing together. Especially when you are direct competition with teams that have the same or greater talent who's core players have been playing together multiple seasons.

Tying this back to Spurs, we obviously had a ton of unrest with the AVB/Sherwood deal, but despite that it really took a season for all our new players to understand their roles and be completely comfortable in what they were doing. Chadli, Lamela, Eriksen, and Capoue were our best players on the field Sunday. All buys from last summer.

Liverpool look good for the long-term, though.

[Edited on August 26, 2014 at 11:36 AM. Reason : Liverpool fans are you concerned about Balo's tendency to ruin a locker room?]

8/26/2014 11:32:02 AM

[Edited on August 26, 2014 at 12:14 PM. Reason : ]

8/26/2014 12:13:17 PM

What is a mk don?

8/26/2014 3:35:04 PM

No hype by the Englosh press:

@guardian_sport: Real Madrid will miss Di Maria who is ‘better than Lionel Messi’ | @sidlowe http://t.co/R8qB3lxGhH (Pic: Colorsport) http://t.co/iZC9aZN7ZI

8/26/2014 4:01:18 PM

United can focus on the league now

8/26/2014 4:23:17 PM

LVG needs time, that's obvious

8/26/2014 4:35:23 PM

It will be a long season for the reserves

8/26/2014 4:44:20 PM

Vidal for £55m coming right up.

8/26/2014 5:05:22 PM

Welp, that was my attempt to promote some actual conversation. I'll just resume my old role now.

8/26/2014 8:09:54 PM

Ribs

I agree with most of what you're saying. I definitely don't see them as close to the title as they were last year but I still think they're better than post-Bale Spurs. Also, I feel like most of the starters already know their roles since they're returning the majority of the squad. Most of the signings are either depth or defense. And the defense familiarity and "understanding" didn't help shit last year so there's not much to lose with a full new back 4.

For some reason, I'm not concerned about Balotelli. Probably just LFC blinders mostly but for a number of reasons:

1) His Italian teammates never seemed too concerned, didn't a few (Pirlo, maybe?) say that he'd matured?
2) Did he ever have any locker room turmoil in Milan? Honestly asking, because I don't pay attention to Serie A at all. If it was bad enough I feel like we would have seen more specific incidents being mentioned in the last week or so.
3) City feels like a long time ago and even then, I felt like a lot of it was blown way out of proportion by media. If Balotelli was an athlete in an American sport, I doubt he'd get half the coverage he gets in Europe. Outspoken, colorful characters like him are dime a dozen here.
4) It's been said a ton of places and Rodgers even explicitly said it but this is basically his last chance at a big club.

8/26/2014 8:11:58 PM

I think he realizes this is probably it in terms of.a big club. From what I've read he is lucky he got this chance as Rodgers really had his hand forced. I think he will do well but I also think he is a tad overrated because of his reputation. His goal scoring and creating record for City wasn't exactly off the charts. Still, for £16m in this market and with the supporting cast he has now I think it'll be well worth it.

8/27/2014 7:19:54 AM

Quote :

"From what I've read he is lucky he got this chance as Rodgers really had his hand forced."

Yeah I'm pretty sure all of that is bullshit.

8/27/2014 8:01:19 AM

Quote :

"I definitely don't see them as close to the title as they were last year but I still think they're better than post-Bale Spurs."

I'm not going to argue that. We understandingly relied heavily on his skill because we had no striker worth a damn and no natural scorers in the midfield at that point.

I think you may be downplaying this window a little calling most of it "depth" though. You don't spend 100+ million on depth. These guys are going to have to get on the pitch and displace some current players or they'll be labeled busts. That's especially true for Lallana.

As far as Balo, through reddit links and other web surfing Iv'e read multiple places that there was relief around the club that he was being sold. He's really the footballing version of Terrell Owens. Unbelievable talent, probably a nice guy, but pouty and disruptive if he doesn't get his way. He also has a uncanny ablility to divide a locker room from the inside and therefore perpetually on the move. That's been the theme at the last 3 clubs now. Inter wanted to get rid of him, then he and Mancini constantly went at it, and now Milan was happy to sell at a loss to get him off the books. There's that old saying that a leopard can't change his spots...

8/27/2014 8:45:19 AM

Quote :

"I think you may be downplaying this window a little calling most of it "depth" though. You don't spend 100+ million on depth. These guys are going to have to get on the pitch and displace some current players or they'll be labeled busts. That's especially true for Lallana."

Of course they're going to get on the pitch and displace players occasionally. It's a squad game now. But none of them (except Lovren probably, who was needed badly) are walking into the starting lineup every single game and being counted on for regular contributions. When you have the 2nd place team from a year ago and you're returning ever single major player from that team except one, then yes you do spend 100+ on depth.

Quote :

"Iv'e read multiple places that there was relief around the club that he was being sold."

Read that too but I've yet to read about any actual instances where he affected locker room atmosphere. I think the problem with Balo at Milan was that they thought he could carry them 100% and it didn't work out. He won't have to do that at Liverpool so I'm not worried.

[Edited on August 27, 2014 at 9:04 AM. Reason : Lovren]


Some lolzy transfer rumors this morning. Zigic/Kalou to Arsenal, Allen to United

[Edited on August 27, 2014 at 9:22 AM. Reason : .]

8/27/2014 9:03:52 AM

Haven't played well yet this year.

But Jack was MoTM. Play like that consistently and he can finally live up to his potential.

8/27/2014 6:08:30 PM

From what I recall, Balotelli just shut down after about 3 months at Milan. The media piled on him and he just quit playing, after coming in and tearing shit up to start.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11945/9209504/italian-papers-blast-mario-balotelli-following-ac-milans-champions-league-exit

http://www.football-italia.net/42163/boban-criticises-milan%E2%80%99s-balotelli

I can't imagine how he thinks it's going to be any better in England with the media this time around, after the way they talked about him last time. According to the british media, Balotelli is a child to be mocked and ridiculed... they're actually already starting it and he just signed 2 days ago.

8/27/2014 8:45:42 PM

Fair enough.

Liverpool team/fan culture is the "everyone is always against us" mentality anyway so he may thrive in that environment.

8/27/2014 9:04:51 PM

Looking more and more like Sandro is off to Napoli and Levy is trying to bring in Song as a replacement.

I wouldn't mind seeing Paulinho, Townsend, or Holtby go either as long as we can pull Schneiderlin, Song, and another LW.

8/28/2014 9:35:39 AM

Lucas to Napoli and Song to LFC has been a rumor for a while too, haha. Same gameplan?

Spurs need some more goalscorers.

8/28/2014 9:51:29 AM

Sounds like it. Lots of Spurs fans are down on Song because they think he'll be a replacement to MS and not in addition to him.

I'm still optimistic on the MS front because they obviously want Townsend and that makes his acquisition easier. If it was just Levy having to fork over 20M to Soton I'd say that wouldn't happen.

8/28/2014 10:08:18 AM

Spurs haven't spent hardly anything this summer so I'd be pissed if they went for Song over Schneiderlin too. No strikers rumored for yall? It's just Ade and Soldado no?

8/28/2014 10:12:40 AM

That looks like it. There's a Welbeck loan rumor going around, and I saw Destro mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Both sound unlikely to me.

My opinion is that Poch hasn't really targeted that as a position of need as much as shoring up the back line and the center of the park. We might go in for somebody in Jan if AE and RS fall flat on their faces in the winter.

8/28/2014 11:02:05 AM

Don't know where this should go but aside from Barca, PSG and Real only place Falcao could land is England if he moves. Real denied him apparently and PSG/Barca are non-starters.

I know it sounds foolish but with Costa out injured and having sold Lukaku, would Chelsea go in?

8/29/2014 7:15:22 AM

I know it sounds foolish but Arsenal's only real forward just got hurt for 3 months and they have a shit ton of money to spend.

8/29/2014 8:06:36 AM

20 million euros?

That's a bargain for United, they should get him

8/29/2014 8:26:49 AM

No way Real denied Falcao.... the whole reason they sold ADM was because they want him.

There's only one place that dude is going, and it's Real Madrid.

8/29/2014 8:32:22 AM

Looks like the legend of Kagawa -- the greatest player who never played -- is finally over. Back to Dortmund where hopefully his career isn't completely ruined. He was so good there the first time.

8/29/2014 11:09:04 AM

I hope evil kagawa stays evil

8/29/2014 11:26:15 AM

We'll miss our bench-a-warming play-a-maker

8/29/2014 1:03:17 PM

United has the most expensive squad ever assembled in the PL apparently now. Worth over £400m. And even with Blind the defense and CMs still suck... What are they doing??

Should win today though and then the hype train will officially pull away from the station.

8/30/2014 6:55:12 AM

If you had £160 mill to spend would Rojo, Di Maria, Blind, Herrera and Shaw have made your list?

8/30/2014 7:36:48 AM

I'd buy five defenders looking at this shambles. Shame I can't watch this shitshow.

I bet they win 3-1 though.

8/30/2014 7:51:37 AM

Phil Jones is garbage lol

[Edited on August 30, 2014 at 8:19 AM. Reason : donkey status]

8/30/2014 8:19:17 AM

LOL at spending all that money and still having to play Anderson in midfield

8/30/2014 9:36:49 AM

Great yellow on Yaya

8/30/2014 11:46:57 AM

Stoke

8/30/2014 11:58:04 AM

like 700 players out injured

United will be a force when everyone's healed up

8/30/2014 1:27:32 PM

Ok. Sure

8/30/2014 1:44:36 PM